


Ringworm

by JeckParadox



Series: Worm AUs [4]
Category: Green Lantern - All Media Types, Parahumans Series - Wildbow
Genre: Alt-Power Taylor Hebert, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-07
Updated: 2019-05-23
Packaged: 2019-09-13 08:21:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16888995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JeckParadox/pseuds/JeckParadox
Summary: Taylor gets a yellow Power Ring. Unfortunately, the AI is more-or-less shot, so she has to figure it out as she goes, but she has the basics down: Flying, glowing, and reaching into her enemies' souls and bring their nightmares to life. Not very heroic, she'll admit. But she can work with it.





	1. Chapter 1

 

Fear. 

My constant companion.

Day-in, day-out. 

Not only had they gotten away with it without even a possibility of consequence, I knew that they _always_ escalated. Which meant that whatever they tried next, whatever it was, it would be _worse._ I couldn't imagine it. I couldn't _stop_ imagining it. When I was at school, I was among enemies, I had to constantly be on alert, constantly hide, and when I couldn't, I had to deflect as much as possible. When they pursued me actively, I was terrified, knowing that they aren't afraid to _really_ hurt me, if they _want_ to. When they left me alone, it was _worse,_  because they had left me alone when I first came back to break, letting me think they had given up when really they were just building up to _it._

I had begun considering suicide, earnestly, but decided against it. Dad, as little we interact at all, wouldn't survive me doing that to myself. I couldn't, wouldn't, let him know how bad things were getting. 

So I bore it.

Suffered it, day by day by day by day-

_< Ambient fear detected- track-T-T **aylor Hebert of Earth yo** u-zzzzt-g-g-g **reat fea** r,-w-w-zzzztk-w-w-w **elcome to the Sinestro Corp** s->_

-until this morning.

* * *

"What the hell is this?" I ask, staring down at the ring on my finger. Surrounding my body was a soft aura of yellow light- no. Not important. What was important was that I was floating. I look past it, at the ground rapidly moving away from my feet. I try to stop- and I do.

"I'm... I'm flying?" I move forwards, then backwards, up, down, I touch the ground, and then kick off of it again, flying forwards. 

Then, I just hang there, trying to get my head around this. I'm not a Parahuman- I didn't start flying until the ring came to me. It's not me that's flying, it's the piece of Tinkertech on my finger. I bring it up to my face, and look at it. There's a strange symbol on the front, one I don't really recognize. A circle, with some lines radiating out of it. It, like me, is glowing bright yellow. 

I turn it around, but I don't see any speakers or anything, although I suppose it could be hidden inside, or have, I don't know, some weird tinker-techy way of producing sound. If it makes things fly, maybe it shook the air? Whatever, it doesn't matter. What does matter, is why it came to me, and why it knew my name. 

I consider pulling it off, but realizing that if I did, I would fall to my death, I wisely dropped back to the road first. 

I pull it off- no more glow.

I will myself upwards- and nothing. Just as bound by gravity as always.

For a long moment, I consider just, throwing it away. But it would just become one more thing to be terrified of. No, this is something I want to figure out right now... that, and I don't want to give up on flying, yet. 

I slide it back over my finger, and the glow is back. 

"Whoah."

I whip around, seeing a boy with a backpack, staring at me with wide eyes. I don't immediately recognize him, but I do know what this means for me- _he saw my face_ , he's seeing me glow, and for every moment we keep eye contact, the more he'll be sure he's seen something he's not supposed to. 

There's a flash of yellow, then, and I look down, seeing something in the corner of my vision. I reach up and touch my face, and sure enough, I have a mask. A bit too late, but... at least it won't happen again. 

It also means there's more to this than just glowing and flight. 

I rise up into the air a bit, and he takes a fearful step back. 

"Uh..."

"Do you know who I am?"

I... see something in him?

"N-no!" he stammers, taking another few hurried steps backwards, before tripping on the edge of the sidewalk and stumbling into the street. 

I can see... images of the... sun? No, not the sun, a bright, human-shaped glowing light. Oh. Purity. Why am I seeing Purity inside him? I can see her... carving up buildings by the docks. The wreckage left behind. The-

I glow, brighter and brighter, more like her, and he's just trying to back up further, his own desire to escape hampering his attempts to stand up. 

The glow moves, then, away from me. It's human-shaped, and almost blinding to look at directly, as it jolts towards him, raising a hand- "NO!"

The Purity made of yellow light abruptly shatters, before it could unleash a blast of light that would have incinerated the boy. 

He's breathing hard, looking frantically between the empty space where my fake Purity had been floating, to me, still floating. 

I want to scream, or hide, or just- something. But I have to deal with this, right now. "Did you see me without my mask?" I ask.

He shook his head, "I didn't see anything, nothing, absolutely nothing." he promised. 

"Did you recognize me?"

Something pulses inside him. I see... Sophia. And Emma. And a few other girls, nearby the lockers, clustered around- hm.

"No." he lies, "No, no, I didn't recognize you. I swear."

"What's my name?" I ask. Suddenly, _'dealing'_ with this quickly and quietly without any hope of incriminating myself further didn't seem as important.

"I don't know!" that might actually be true.

"You watched, while it happened, didn't you?" I ask, I clench my fist, and my glow gets brighter, "You watched, as they shoved me in there, and did nothing, right?"

"W-why are you going after me? I didn't push you in!"

"You could have got me out." I say, "Any of you could have gotten me out." it wasn't like the hallway was empty when it happened. I see in his... his memories? Faces flash. Friends? The other witnesses? People who abandoned me.

"Then they would have started going after me!" I can see Sophia and Emma's shapes clearly in the yellow light inside him. I look to the side, and while my own yellow glow is casting shadows on the ground, the images within him don't. They're something only I can see. In fact, the images are more intense than the ones of Purity. He's more scared of them than a supervillain. I would find it amusing, if the same wasn't true of me. 

"...What's your name?" I ask.

"D-Dave."

"You're scared of Emma and Sophia?"

"Yeah."

"You have bigger problems than them, now." I say. He nods. "Don't tell anyone about me."

He nods again, "I promise."

 _"Dick."_ he flinches, but I turn away, as if he was beneath my contempt.

I fly straight up, and even only moments later, I'm already cursing myself for being an idiot. I mean, god! I could have just, flown away. He might have said something, but who would have believed him? And even if he did tell someone who believed him, what could he say? It would have been a boring story, but then I made a... what? A ghost? An image, of Purity? I think it could have actually hurt him, if I didn't stop it. It felt _solid._ And then I threatened him, and reminded him of my own identity! God! He'll never forget me now. If I had just flown away the moment I knew he saw me, he could have denied it, and just spent the rest of his time at school staying as far away from me as he could. I mean, that's what _I_ would do, if I noticed someone at school had powers.

But now? He'll never forget me. He'll never stop paying attention to me. He's _scared_ of me. Of what I might do to him. Scared of me like I am of Emma and Sophia, and I didn't even have to _do_ anything to him.

Why am I smiling?

* * *

 

I just keep going up, not particularly fast, I don't think, but pretty quickly. I didn't stop when I hit the clouds, but I soon became the only source of light within an endless expanse of gray, and kept on going straight up. I came out the other end, still rising, and then went into another cloud. After rising out of that one, the clouds became thinner, and as I looked down, it... well, it was like a picture taken from the window of an airplane. Through holes in the clouds, I could see Brockton Bay in miniature.

I looked back at the ring, "...What are you?" I ask.

_< Th-th-t **his ring i** s-zzzzzzkkkt>_

Broken.

I would worry it was something I did, but the sound was crackling like that when I first heard it too. "What can you do?"

_< Zzzzzz-c **onduit fo** r- Y **e** L-L-L **Light of Fear. Fear Construc** t-zzztttkkkkttt- u **niversal translation, unassisted space flight, navigation, scanning, faster than light transmis** s-s-sssssss>_

Wait, wait, what? Okay, fear constructs, that I could see. I guess... seeing what people are afraid of, and being able to... make those fears come to life? Universal translation, that I'll have to test, but _unassisted space flight?_   I could go into space with this thing? Hah! 

Actually, no, scratch that, that's a horrible, horrible plan. Even if I _can_ fly in space, that doesn't mean I'll be able to breathe, or anything like that. Okay, so, navigation is easily tested as well, and scanning could mean _anything,_  and... I guess I can send messages faster than the speed of light? How would that even work?

"I want to send a message to the creator of this ring." I say.

< _R **ecording** >_

Oh?

Um.

"I want to know why you sent me this ring, and how you know who I am." I say, "And that it's a bit glitchy, and that if you want it back, or you want to work with me, or... whatever the reason, you should try to get back in contact with me." I wait, "Er, send message."

_< S **endi** n-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-zzzzzzzzzkkkkkktttt f **ailure t** o->_

"Nevermind." I sigh, "Okay, location. Where are we, exactly?"

_< Earth, inhabited world in sector 2814.>_

"Oh, that wasn't very glitchy at all. Okay, how about in closer detail? What city am I floating over?"

 _< N-N-N **avigational charts of local system not presen** t-t-t-t.>_ What? _< A **ccessing local data network. Information downloaded. Local navigation now possibl** e. Location: Brockton Bay, Massachusetts, United States of America, North America, Earth, Sun Solar System, Sector 2814.>_

Wait. Sectors?

"Are you from another planet?"

_< This ring was not created on Earth.>_

God. Aliens, okay. Unless it's bullshitting me. 

...

Nope, not going to deal with that right now. I'm not equipped to deal with that. I have a more important question right now. "Why was this ring sent to _me?"_

_< Y **ou possess th** e- the- the- a- G **reat fea** r- zzzzz-s **ufficien** t- kkkkzzzz-e **rrors i** n- zzzzzkkkttzzz-i **nstill grea** t fear-zzz- i **ncorrect parameters not met** -zzzz- a **mbient suffused fear levels ar** e- kzzzsssshhhkkkkt>_

I...

It's an... apparently alien tool, that can use fear as a weapon, letting me see it in others, use those fears against them, as well as flying and... some other stuff. And it was given to me because I'm afraid.

Because I'm _so scared, all the time._ It can literally sense fear, and of everyone on Earth, or _whatever,_ I glowed the brightest?

That... god that's depressing. 

But I can work with that.

I don't care how I got it, not really. I just know that I can use it. With this, even if I'm not a real Parahuman, I've got _powers._ Pretty _decent_ ones, even. I could... I could be a hero. Make something of myself, inspire people, change this city. This world, even. 

And if the ring isn't bullshitting me, this universe. 

That's... that's more hope than I've had in the last two months. God, I even feel _optimistic._ I let gravity take hold, and freefall back through the clouds. For some reason, I don't feel the wind on my face, although it tugs at my hair a bit. Gray, gray, and more gray passes me by, as Brockton Bay gets bigger and bigger. I halt myself, all at once, and don't even feel sick. 

I drop to the ground, to the sidewalk I lifted off from, and take off the ring. The glow vanishes, as does my Mask, and I let out a sigh of relief. 

As I turn, and take my first step, however, I realize what I'm walking towards, and my good mood begins to dull. 

Just... just make it through today, and then I'll have hours and hours before Dad comes home to practice with my new powers. With every step, I dread it more, but I keep going, just like every other day. And... it's not as bad. If they try something, I can just put on the ring, and break free, of _whatever_ it is. They can't hurt me, not, _not permanently_ , at least.

I'm still scared. Still terrified. 

But I can work with that.

 

 

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

I hate this.

At any moment, I could just reach into my pocket, and they couldn't stop me. I'd be able to escape all of this in an instant. If I just reached into my pocket and slipped it over a finger, I'd feel powerful again. It was a deep, powerful, alluring temptation. 

But it would have consequences. One person, I could intimidate into silence, a whole school? A gang of bitches who hate me? No. I couldn't afford to glow yellow around here, not if I wanted to protect my identity. 

It was difficult to concentrate, even more so than usual. I still kept an eye out, of course, my paranoia was engrained, at this point, nearly automatic, but for once, I had something _to look forward to_ , going home. Even more so than the simple absence of school for a few precious hours. Minutes ticked by as I struggled and failed to pay attention to what any of my teachers were saying, but time passed all the same. 

I was quick to gather my stuff and hurry to my next class the moment the bell rings, ducking out of view from Emma's cronies, and taking a meandering path around the school at a brisk pace, trying to get to my next class quickly, while also avoiding anyone else who might want to ambush me on the way there. I more-or-less succeed, but since the class is one I share with Julia and Madison, the 'success' just means that I'm in view of a teacher, so they have to try to be _subtle_ in their torment.

Class begins, and I keep both of them within view as much as possible. As Mister Gladly prattles on about this and that, I brace myself as Madison gets up and passes me. I keep my eyes dead-ahead, not acknowledging her and-

I don't relax, when she's past me. I don't flinch, either. I just switch from one mode of thought to another. Rather than dreading something I can see coming, I'm left braced and worried about having something drop onto me. I don't turn around to keep her in my vision, because that would draw attention, make a connection between us. I just keep on staring ahead.

Pencil shavings fall over my head, and I blink them out of my eyes. She doesn't say anything, although she sneers and glances at me, but I don't meet her eyes, I don't react at all.

The rest of the day passes in a paranoid haze.

The moment school lets out, I rush for home, on the brink of tears. Finally, finally, god, having something to look forward to all day made it so much worse, but it's alright now. 

The moment the door closes behind me, I thrust my hand into my pocket, and I pulse with yellow light. My mask appears, more than that, an entire suit of transparent yellow armor has covered me, glowing brighter and brighter, becoming more solid with each passing moment. For the first time since this morning, I feel _safe_ again. Okay. 

I relax, and the armor, which appeared instinctively, fades away, but the mask remains. And- my clothes have changed as well. Form-fitting. It's a body-suit, similar to Legend's. It's almost completely a reflective, almost plastic-looking black, except for some yellow covering my shoulders and stretching around my collar. I have bright yellow armored boots, and armored yellow gloves, as well. Or would they be called gauntlets?  I fly over to a mirror, and have a look at myself properly. There's a symbol on my chest, just underneath my collarbones. A glowing yellow circle, the inside a solid black, while the symbol on my ring is proudly displayed inside it in white. 

I certainly look like a superhero. I approve of the costume as well, it looks professional. I don't really like that it's... skin-tight, however. Just imagining people _looking_ at my body and- and as I think that, it shifts. The yellow around my collar stretches downwards, covering most of my chest, and lifting up a bit. It gets a bit bulkier, looking like the armor built into my gloves and boots, and concealing my meager bust. That _is_ a bit better. Probably better protection, too.

I fly upstairs, open my door, and close it behind me. Taking out an empty notebook, I sit down on my bed and open to the first page. 

Where to even start?

What do I _want_ to do with this? I look over at the ring, "...Ring, what is your purpose?"

_< Kkkkzzzkkt->_

"Never mind." I say, rubbing my temples. Okay, then, if I'm not expected to do anything with this, then... let's just imagine I'm an _ordinary_ Parahuman. What are my choices then? The Wards-

I ignore the first response, which is revulsion. Not towards the Wards in particular, but the thought of joining any group of other teens, really. Emma and Sophia taught me pretty early on that trying to drag others into my life would be bad for them and for me, and the very few who've tried to get in touch with me otherwise, out of pity, or whatever, learn quickly that it's not worth it. I'm not a friendly person, I'm not a happy person, and I come with very active, occasionally violent, baggage.

But... that wouldn't _have_ to be true, would it?

Sophia and Emma _can't_ follow me into the Wards. Thinking along those lines, it's already a huge plus. It's also what most young Parahumans are kind of expected to do. Either that, or join your gang of choice. Which, in my case... not a racist piece of shit, not an asian, not a druggy, not... who else is there? 

Hm.

I write down the word 'Information- Villains' on the notebook, and resolve to check later. 

I then move a bit lower on the page, and draw two vertical lines, a plus on the left of each, a minus on the right of each, and label the first one 'Solo' and the second 'Wards'. 

So... Wards. 

Lots of pluses. In terms of safety, having a team for backup would be helpful. Getting training from superheroes would be both cool, and probably improve my ability to do superhero things a _lot._  I would get paid, eventually, I'd get transferred into Arcadia, which... a way to get away from the bitches permanently that's... that's a huge plus.

As for minuses, though... 

I would have to get Dad involved, for one thing. Which... which might not be _so_ bad? I mean, unless he freaked out and decided it was too dangerous for me, and refuse. I'd have people monitoring me all the time, which I can't _stand,_  and they'd probably... be... curious about the ring.

I look down at it.

They... they wouldn't _take_ it, would they? I mean, I basically received it by random, I don't know who made it or where it came from, it could be dangerous, but... those aren't enough to make me give it up. But it _might_ be enough to make others decide I shouldn't have it. Or even if they're willing to ignore all those other aspects, what if they decided to keep the ring, but _I_ wasn't good enough? I'm miserable, maladjusted, paranoid, and antisocial. My grades are horrible, and I dislike authority figures on principle these days, even if they _haven't_ fucked me over personally like the staff at Winslow.

What if they decided some PRT officer could do more with the ring than I could? Be a more effective superhero? I mean, _god,_ it's a ring that you put on and suddenly you get superpowers! _I_ wouldn't waste one on someone like me. Well, I mean, I'm not going to give it up to find someone better, because I'm selfish and it makes me feel safe, but...

No, just making myself depressed now, cutting that line of thought. 

A positive of going solo would be to just not have to worry about the PRT or the Wards or Protectorate or _any_ of that. I wouldn't have backup, or support, I wouldn't be getting paid, sure, but that just means I could do whatever I wanted without having to wait for someone's orders.

And I wouldn't have to tell Dad.

Hm.

* * *

I read up on the other villains in the city, and the people working for the gangs, as much as I could, in the hope of not getting caught off guard if I run into any of them. A lot of the PHO pages don't actually have that much information, some being blank except for a name and a costume, which brought to my attention something I was currently missing.

I had powers, I had a costume, but I didn't have a name. 

I considered going with Yellowjacket, what with the black-and-yellow theme, but I'm not really... bug-themed. I mean, if someone had a fear of bugs or something, I could make them, but that isn't the limit of what I can do. 

Most of the things I do come up with come out sounding... extremely villainous. Terror, Horror, Dismay, Nightmare, Fearsome- I don't know. Going for things only tangentially related to fear, like Banshee, or Spectre, or Ghastly, or something like that, sound just as dark, or have already been taken.

Right now, I'm thinking I should come up with something wacky just to even it out, something like... Yellowbelly? Frightlight? Oh, that one actually sounds kind of good. Yellow Streak? No, that lends itself to pee jokes far too easily. 

Actually... when the ring came to me this morning, I was too distracted by it mentioning my name, that the rest kind of flew past me. It said... Taylor Hebert of Earth, crackling, great fear, more crackling, and then...

I am welcome to the Sinestro Corps, right?

 _Sinestro._  

"Sinestro Corps?" I ask.

_< T **he Sinestro Corps is the organizatio** n-n-n-kkzzzzzzkt-Y **ellow Power Rin** g- zzzz - b **ringing order t** o- kkkkttt>_

I smile, wide, and go back to the bathroom. I turn off the lights, and close the door, before looking at my reflection. The yellow parts of my armor are glowing already, and with a thought, they shine even brighter, along with it, a yellow aura of light outlines my form. "I... am Sinestro _._ " I say, doing a dramatic pose, " **I! Am! Sinestro!** " I growl out, " _I am Sinestro_." I say with a sneer, trying out different voices with them.

No, no, I look and sound like a supervillain. 

But then again... my power works best when they're afraid of me, doesn't it?

And just because a hero has a dark-looking attitude and look, doesn't mean they aren't a good guy, right? I mean, look at Shadowstalker! She was dark and scary, but she's respected as a Ward all the same. And it's not like I'm _completely_ dark. Yellow is a warm, sunny color. And to be honest, the name feels... right. 

Now, I have a name, a costume, even a goal... what should I do next? I leave the bathroom, head downstairs, and look at the clock. I still have hours before Dad comes home. It seems kind of stupid to head out on my very first day with powers, but after the day I had, and with what I can do, it doesn't seem like it'll be that dangerous. I mean, the only villain capable of flying like I can in Brockton Bay is Purity- who, I admit, is probably out of my weight class. If it's anyone other than her, I can just fly away if I feel like I'm in danger.

And really, even if I did want to test out my power more, a lot of it seems tied up in other people. I can't bring my own fears to life, can I?

Actually, that seems like something I can test. What am I most afraid of? I reach into myself and-

I spin away and back off as I see Sophia coming into being. She's taller than me, glowing yellow, partially transparent. I watch her, as she raises both hands, smiles in an all-too familiar way, and- _bugs! So many bugs! So many, all yellow, just like her, they press against me, overwhelm me, bury me, and then they harden, encasing me in a_ \- NO.

It all shatters, all of it. 

I'm sitting on the floor, breathing hard, staring down at my ring. I can make my own fears real too, then. 

With narrowed eyes, I focus, and create it again. Minus- minus Sophia. 

Bugs. Glowing yellow bugs come into existence around me, most are regular sized, but some have grown. Maggots the size of baseballs, cockroaches bigger than a shoe. They come out in a wave, practically, and I stare down the hall. They follow where I aim my gaze, and then, I order them to return, and they do so. 

As I get more used to seeing it, the yellow dulls, they become more and more transparent, even a bit sluggish, before coming apart altogether without me even meaning to. I think... once I stopped being afraid of them, they got weaker. Either that, or some kind of time limit. Either way, it's useful information to know. When I'm in a fight, I'll need to move _quickly_ and _decisively,_  before the timer runs out, or my opponent gets used to the fears I've brought to life.


	3. Chapter 3

 I feel people staring at me as I hover down the street. It bothers me, but I _know_ that they can't hurt me. In fact, I think I'm getting stronger. 

It makes as much sense as everything else does, at least. I can make people's fears come to life in the form of yellow light, and I use that same yellow light to make my costume and fly. If people are afraid of _me,_  maybe that reinforces anything I use around myself.

Either way, I'm being watched, and I don't like it. Nobody's tried attacking me yet, which is good, but at this point I think half the docks know I'm here. Which, I guess, is the point of coming out at all, but still.

Tonight, I decided, was my test run.

Researching the Wards, I found that the main part of their actual 'duties' as Capes mostly involved patrolling various parts of the city. Theoretically, these are areas with high amounts of crime, but in practice, they tended to keep the kids out of the direct line of fire except in emergencies. Either way, the simple visible presence of hero scared away lesser criminals, and offered a challenge to the types of criminals ordinary police can't handle. 

The Wards didn't patrol the docks, the trainyards- any of the city's edges. The Protectorate reached out a little further, but not by too much. 

My point being, this was a bad part of town, it was close to my home, and it could use a little of that superhero crime-be-gone that downtown made so much use of. 

So here I was. 

"Map." I said quietly, and the ring obeyed, a flickering yellow projection rising from the ring. "Where have I gone so far?"

The roads began to color in slightly, and I consider where to go next. 

I've only been at it for about a half-hour, but I think I'm making good progress. Mainly, I've been following the roads, trying to cover as much of it in one night as possible.

Picking out the next bit of my patrol, I begin moving forward again when I hear an explosion. 

I'm surprised by the sudden flare of yellow light around me, but I guess it's just a reaction to my sudden surprise. It's not anywhere near me, thankfully, but it's not too far away, either. The few people still visible on the street to me hurry away, and my first instinct is to join them. 

But what's the point of even doing a patrol if criminals know I won't interfere if I come across something suspicious? I head towards the sound, picking up height as I go, so I can survey the scene from above beforehand. 

There's a small smoking crater, I assume evidence of the explosion, but the cause of which isn't... immediately obvious. Mostly I'm distracted by the monsters.

"What the hell..." I mutter, before flinching at another explosion. Where- there. No, there- oh, thank you ring. 

That's Oni Lee. He can teleport, and he's known for throwing grenades around. The people he's fighting... come on! I just looked this up. Underground, Underneath. Under-something at least. A bunch of teen villains who mostly commit thefts. That makes the monsters Hellhounds, and the people riding them supervillains, if not particularly well-known ones. 

For a good few moments, I consider just flying away, and giving up on the hero business. My _first night_ , and I'm faced with a five-Cape clusterfuck! Maybe I could just go back to how things used to be, and keep the ring around for emergencies! Yeah, that could work, couldn't it?

Only... 

If that were true, I might as well just hand it off to someone who could actually use it. 

No. 

I had to look at this mess as a good thing. I mean, really, all of them were fairly weak, as far as Capes went. This could be an opportunity to build a reputation, cut my teeth on some supervillains in the shallow end of the pool before I had to face anything _really_ bad.  

This could be good!

NO! This is good. Come on Taylor, just go down there and start kicking ass!

_< **Hope dete** c-tec-tec>_

_"Aaaaaaah!"_

I scream as I just drop. The yellow turns back on again just as abruptly as it had vanished, and my heart is pounding a mile a minute. What was that!? Why did my power turn off? God damn it, the ring is buggy like hell, why would I trust my life to something like that? Flying is _dangerous!_

That's it, this is stupid, all of it. I'm just going to go home, and take off the ring, and just keep it in case of emergencies, like pepper spray, but better. 

"Another one?" I hear from behind me, suddenly. I feel a grip on my shoulder, a sudden weight behind it, and I jerk my head back, seeing the red-and-green demon mask of Oni Lee. How is he on my back? Oh, wait, teleports. "Stupid child." he sneers, before holding a FUCKING GRENADE UP TO MY FACE. 

I spin around, throwing him off, but he tosses the grenade back in my direction as he falls. 

I swing my ring-hand wildly in the bomb's direction, and my horde of giant bugs come into being in a flash of yellow light, swarming the grenade. It goes off, and the construct shatters, but they contained the blast.

That was too close. 

Oni Lee turns to dust before he falls all the way to the ground, and already the ring is guiding my attention to where he reappeared.

He tried to kill me. 

As I follow him with my gaze, he looks up at me, and pulls out another grenade. I flinch, and I can tell from his body language that he noticed.

He knows I'm afraid of him. And just like that, I'm not panicking any more. Fear is good. Fear makes me stronger, I tell myself. And if he's trying to make me scared, I can do the same to him. I focus on his fears, drawing them out with my mind's eye, and I see... himself. Vanishing, bit by bit. Lung, half-transformed and bearing down on him. Purity, again, a blazing light blasting at him no matter where he tries to teleport. 

I smile, direct my ring towards him, and create Purity once more. Essentially, just a brilliantly bright yellow light in a vaguely humanoid form. 

With the entire area now clearly lit up, I can make out the scene below with much more clarity. A handful of people in ABB clothes are hanging around the edges of the fight with weapons, another handful are down, knocked out or maybe dead... nope, just knocked out. A corpse wouldn't have any fears hanging around inside them. Huh. I think I can trigger nightmares in sleeping people at will. 

The Under-whatevers are on the Hellhounds, although they seemed to be making good on my distraction to turn tail and run. As they moved, the darkness guy, Grue, raised his hands, and starts spilling pure black into the air around them. In stark difference to the world covered in a yellow glow by my Construct Purity, the black emptiness _really_ stands out.

I point towards them, "They're villains too." I say, drawing forth a second Construct, a larger than life Construct of a half-transformed Lung, and send him after them. "Keep them in the area." I don't think its sentient, or even requires voice commands, but it doesn't _hurt_ giving out orders. 

Purity opens fire on Oni Lee, and he hurriedly teleports away, but my ring is following him, more than that, the Construct is reflecting his fears. It knows exactly where he is. The yellow figure turns immediately, unleashing another beam. With every near miss, his fear grows, and the Construct gets more solid.

It's a highly destructive game of whack-a-mole going on, now. 

Turning my attention to the other villains, I find with disappointment that Lung dissipated soon after entering the cloud of smoke. Maybe because it's Oni Lee's fear, rather than one of theirs. 

Ah well, I could find them later. Compared to the thieves, the murderer and gang lieutenant _who tried to kill me_ was the bigger threat.

Poof, blast, poof, blast, poof, blast- and finally, a hit! 

"Arrrggh!" Oni Lee screamed as the laser caught him straight-on. He was sent flying backwards, his torso smoking. 

Oh shit. Did I kill him? That could be really bad. Really, really bad. 

I zip over to him, forcefully shattering the image of Purity as I pass, and drop down to the roof where he landed. 

It seemed to have only clipped him, but still, the damage was bad. It was like he had been lit on fire on the left side, some of his skin was left blackened and smoking. 

What do I do? He could die. And then... Lung would be after me. Crap, he'd already be after me, wouldn't he?

...

I wonder what Lung is scared of.

I bite my lip, watching him, before looking down to the ring, "I don't suppose you could... _heal_ him, somehow, could you?"

_< Zzzzkkt-I **nsufficient medical data, scannin** g-ning-ning- s **can error.** >_

"Yeah, I thought not." I mutter, "Map. Show me the hospital."

The map flickered back into existence, and I reached down, hooking my arms under his own, and then lifting up into the air. He... wasn't that heavy, really. Maybe the ring made me stronger, on top of everything else?

I floated up into the air, and then began to fly towards the hospital, following the map. To my surprise, as I lifted into the air, Oni Lee became practically weightless, the yellow light that covered me when I flew covering him as well. 

Confident, I sped up a little more, and the city passed under us in a blur. Maybe only a second passed before we were there. Lowering down to the ground, I suddenly felt another burst of anxiety. The last time I was here was when I was recovering from the locker. 

I pulled him towards the doors, kicking them open as I couldn't really use my hands. 

The glow around me increased bit by bit as I pulled him towards the front desk. Everyone within sight was staring at me, er, us, confused and frightened. 

Deciding I had gone far enough, I let go, letting him slump down to the ground. I looked back around at the staring faces, before focusing on the man at the front desk.

"He's injured." I said.

"R-right! Sorry." he said, before hurrying for a phone. Seeing him take his eyes off of me, and that I didn't... I don't know, attack him for responding to me, had a few others let out breaths of relief themselves. 

I stand there awkwardly for a few moments, before turning around and walking out of the hospital, leaving the moaning Oni Lee on the floor. I'm out of the doors before I groan, turn around, and walk back in. 

I lean down, and begin grabbing weapons. Mostly, just different kinds of grenades and a wide variety of knives. Gathering a growing pile in my arms, I blink in surprise when they're enveloped in yellow light and vanish. 

...

I'll deal with that later. 

This time, when I leave the hospital, it's for good. 

Now, what next?

"Ring, where did the weapons go?" 

_< Zzz-s **tored in subspace pocket. >**_

 I've heard of tinkers using things like that before. 

"Um, I want a knife." 

And just like that, the one I had been picturing in my mind was in my hands. 

"Is there anything else stored in there?" I ask, smiling suddenly. This could actually be a big break! If whoever was using this before me left anything inside, maybe it'd give me some clues about this whole Sinestro Corps thing.

I flinch, suddenly, as images appear in my brain. I can see all the knives and bombs I took off Oni Lee, but more than that I can see... 

Are those guns? And more knives, and swords, and... items I can't even recognize. Alien technology, I guess. I can see meat. A _lot_ of meat. Huge mounds of bloody flesh. Whoever or whatever had this before me was a carnivore, that's for sure.

Hm... 

I reach, mentally, for one of the gun-looking objects. 

It appears in my hand in a burst of yellow light. "What is this?" 

_< **A standard Laser Pistol used by th** e-the-th-th>_

Maybe I'll test it later. I send it back to the pocket, and instead decide to focus on my original next step. I may have prioritized Oni Lee, but the Undersiders were villains too, and they essentially got away. I fly back towards the scene of the crime at speed, before lowering to the ground. The darkness cloud is gone now, and there's no sign of them anywhere. 

Those monsters they were riding seem like they'd be pretty noticeable.

Hm... 

"Ring?" I begin, "When you got the maps, you said you were connecting to the 'local data network', right?"

 _< **Correct** >_ 

 "Connect to local news reports, any mention of monsters, or the Undersiders, or black fog, or smoke, or darkness. Tell me where they are." 

_< **Connecting to local data network.** >_

 I'm glad to know that it doesn't seem to have problems with stuff like this. Maybe it's simply a matter of all old knowledge being glitchy, while new knowledge is okay?

_< **Probable location found. Sca** n-n-n-n->_

And just like that, the map appears, before switching to what seems to be a live feed of the group of them running. But as the ring's voice begins to glitch, so does the picture.

"Take me there." I order, while focusing on my fears. My powers work best when used in surprise. Short bursts. I only have power over them while they're afraid of me, so I need to strike while the iron's hot. 

Since they're not in range yet, I'm focusing on my own fears. They'll be more than enough. I don't think any of them have anything that could stand up to a horde of giant yellow bugs.

I fly across the short distance- shorted than the trip to the hospital, -and suddenly I can see them. They notice me, too, of course. Glowing thing that I am. 

I dive towards them, and raise my ring. 

And then I notice them slowing down, the girl in purple, Tattletale, calling for the others to stop. 

Are they surrendering?

I hold back on summoning a swarm as I float to a stop above them. 

Tattletale gets off the monster, and holds up her hands. I guess they really are.

...

I should invest in _handcuffs-_

A yellow line connects her hands to my ring, and glowing cuffs appear on them. 

"Huh?" 

"What?" 

We make eye contact, both surprised. I blush, but that should be hidden by the mask, so I try not to focus on that, "You're surrendering then?" I glare at the others, and sure enough, more cuffs materialize. 

"Hey!" the big girl in the dog mask yanks back on them, "Get this off of me!" 

"Tattletale." Grue warns.

"No, we weren't surrendering! I just thought we should make sure to thank you." she said, "Maybe offer you some advice." 

I stare down at her. Her fears begin to open themselves to me, but then... she twists her face, and it gets less clear. They exist, still, but not at the forefront of her mind right now. 

"What advice?" I ask. 

"You're still new to this, aren't you?" she said, "Which brings up a lot of questions, considering." she looks me up and down, and I begin to blush again. 

 _"What_ advice?" I growl, and shrink all the cuffs, to the point where they can all feel it squeezing on their wrists. Their nervousness spikes, and the cuffs become more opaque. 

"Let me go, and then I'll tell." 

"No." I stay, and begin flying off. _"Ring."_ I whisper, _"Map to the PRT building, or the Rig, whichever is closer."_

 The map appears in front of me. A yellow glow appears over all the Undersiders, and it occurs to me that I should grab the monsters, too. Golden collars appear, this time, and as the monsters complain, growl, and snap, they expand into larger muzzles. 

"Hey! Wait!" Tattletale complains, "Look, seriously, you'll want to know what I'm talking about here!" she says, "It's important to you!" 

Grue and Hellhound try to dig in their heels, but I simply levitate them, along with the monsters. 

"As fun as this is," the boy in the billowy shirt raises his hands towards me, "I think we've already moved past the point of still being friendly, Tats." 

My arm swings wildly, but the beams connecting me to the cuffs don't change, although the entire group is sent flying just a little before I clamp back down on control, now all of us are in the air. 

I glare at the boy, Regent, and focus on what _he's_ afraid of. Images of the same man, doing... oh... oh _god._ That... 

_< **Warning! Compassion dete** c-tec-tec-tec>_

All of the cuffs phase out of existence, and the Undersiders are sent crashing to the ground. "No!" I growl, and reach out to re-establish connections.

I grab Regent, Hellhound, and one of the monsters before Tattletale shouts "Grue! Flood the alley!" 

Their leader throws his arms wide and like ink spreading through water the darkness billows out of him in massive quantities, immediately obscuring him. When the darkness touches the monster I have collared, the beam flickers and becomes thin. The monster snaps its jaws and breaks the muzzle, destroying the collar and that beam with it. 

"No!" I shout again, and flood the alley with yellow light. 

My maggots and flies pour free from my mind, and rush towards them. Regent and Tattletale scream as they charge, but the others are already hidden in the darkness. 

The bulk of my Constructs push into the darkness, and I can feel them becoming weaker, the connection fritzing... but the ones who have shoved down and grabbed Tattletale and Regent, roughly shoving them back in my direction so I can scoop them both back up in cuffs, are fine, as long as they don't touch the cloud. 

I shoot up higher into the air, and create more on the opposite side from the cloud, blocking the other end of the alley. But when the cloud expands in that direction, the Constructs fizzle before they can make contact with the Undersiders. All I can do is slow them down. They can't move too quickly or else they'll run into my Constructs while they're still solid. 

"You don't want to do that." Tattletale says, as I send down more. 

I glance her way, and she smiles smugly at me, "I was going to hold this over your head until you let us go, but now I have a feeling that it's not going to happen." 

"Hold what!?" I snarl, before wincing as more of my bugs come apart. A monster definitely made contact that time, but weak as it was, they just crushed the bug Construct and kept moving forwards. 

"You're being wasteful." Tattletale says in a teasing voice.

She's right, I guess. I could be doing this smarter. I can create cuffs and muzzles, and I'm not particularly scared of either. Maybe I can just create anything I want, but things people are afraid of are easiest? I plant a wall in front of them, and focus on keeping it solid as the darkness eats away at the connection. But they're trapped, for now. I drop more bugs on top of them, and I'm rewarded with an increased feeling of fear from Grue, but not the others until bugs actually land on them. I put another wall on the opposite side, and let the bugs vanish. They can't get out for now. 

"Ring, can you make phone calls?"

_**< Correct>** _

"Call the police."

< _ **Connecting, connection achieved.**_ "This is 911, what's the nature of your emergency?">

"My name is Sinestro." I say, "I'm, um, a new superhero. I've captured the Undersiders, a group of villains." 

"No you haven't." Tattletale comments. 

The walls are weakening, and I strengthen them again, before simply creating two more walls right behind them, to replace them. 

<"What's your location?">

I tell them, and replace the walls again. The darkness is rising upwards, now, towards us. 

Regent tries to do his twitchy thing again, so the moment I feel my arm twitch, I start making him spin, keeping him distracted. 

<"The PRT has been contacted, they'll be at the scene as quickly as possible.">

The walls are close to breaking again, so I make another set, before putting a roof on the darkness as well, and then moving all the walls closer together. Squeezing and squeezing. The darkness was eating at them faster than before, but I had a plan now. As soon as any of them touch a wall, I cuff them, make a hole just big enough for them, and drag them out into the air with me. Monster 1, Hellhound, Monsters 2 and 3, now, there was only Grue left in the alley. 

My eyes glide across the street, and I see a dumpster. I create a giant clawed hand, emptying it out, before dispelling the walls and dropping it on top of Grue, open-end first. 

The darkness cloud begins to fade away, although fresh not-smoke seeps out of the bottom where the dumpster meets the street. 

And Tattletale is shaking her head.

"What?"

"I'm just going to say this one more time, alright?" the girl says, "It could make or break your 'hero' career." she meets my eyes, "Look, you already brought in Oni Lee, right? Tonight is a win for you, in the 'I pissed off Lung but got good rep with heroes' kind of way. But unless you let us go, and hear me out, that's going to be the start and end of it, for you, tonight." 

"What are you even talking about?" I ask back. 

She points at my Ring. "You're not a Cape, really. Or at least not a Parahuman. That's a piece of Tinkertech. Stolen, maybe, or bought on the black alley, or... maybe you just found it on the road." she shrugs, "Doesn't matter. The point is, it isn't yours. You don't know how it works."

"I-" can't think of a lie in time, and she already nods like I just told her she was right, "-what's your point?" I say instead. 

"How long is the battery life?" she asks, "Because every time you made something, unless it really surprised us, like that first wave of bugs, has made the ring glow just a _little less."_  

And I am now terrified. 

I had been hoping this was my ticket out of my hell of a life. What if from the beginning, I was only ever going to have powers for a day. What if the clock was ticking down from the moment I picked it up? 

I had _wasted_ all those _hours_ at school, when I could have been using it.

Wasted.

Wasted!

 **Fuck!**  

All of the cuffs and force fields dimmed as I thought that, but the act of dimming made my terror spike so much that they became bright again almost immediately. 

"Huh..." Tattletale says, and my attention shifts to her, "If you start feeling anything strongly, it gets weaker."

Feeling anything but _fear_ makes it weaker.

"Is that all of your advice?" I ask, "Or is there something else?" something I could do to fix this?

"Sinestro, right?" Tattletale asks, and I nod, "You don't have much time. Using the ring more drains it faster, that's... about all I know." she grimaces, "Honestly, I'm getting more out of observing _you_ than observing _that._ It's... complicated as hell. What you _need,_ is to find someone who knows Tinkertech, and figure out a way to recharge your ring. Otherwise, your hero career is finished. Tinkertech can be fiddly, and who knows if you let it run out of juice if it can ever be turned back on again." she looks down the street, "The Protectorate is going to want you to stick around. Ask questions, fill out paperwork. Give you a recruitment speech. Your costume is part of your power?" she looks me up and down, "Yes, it is. So, that's going to cost you time you do not have. Let us go. If you're that worried about your reputation, call the police back that we broke out, and you're chasing us."

I nod without thinking, and bite back sigh. "...That's not very heroic." I mutter, "Letting you go just because I'm worried about keeping my powers." 

"We're small time thieves." Tattletale says, "We don't kill people. We don't even  _hurt_ people, unless they go after us first. Besides, you already captured us once. You can do it again, _if_ your ring is still working then." 

...

"Ring? Do you require recharging?" 

_**< This ring is currently at 18% charge.>** _

She's right. 

She's **right,** **damn it.**

**Damn it, damn it, damn it!**

_**< Warning! Rage dete**c-tec-tec> _

I've heard it before.

I dropped them all, but I catch them all before they fall. As a goodbye, I spin them all like I did Regent, and I set them down more gently after. When I release the golden cuffs, all of them are bumping into each other, barely able to stand and Regent bends over to vomit. 

Maybe that'll be enough to slow them down for the police to get them, maybe not. 

I need to find a Tinker.


End file.
